[NEWS] K-Pop Fever In South America “Grow Twice As More”

CNN Chile reporter Stavros Mosjos that came to report for JYJ’s Chile concert shared, “Now K-Pop that was limited to certain fan base has now reached the public. Now is the perfect time for K-Pop to spread out to the general public.”

The furthest country from Korea, Santiago, Chile, shows Kia, Hyundai, LG, and Samsung company’s billboards are lined up on the way to downtown from Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez airport. 1 of three to four cars on the street are Korea. K-Pop is greeting an important time as Korea’s brand power is already significant in South America.

All the K-Pop fans, concert promoter, and press have stated that this year is the golden opportunity for K-Pop to spread K-Pop in South America.

According to the fans in Chile there are about 2-3 students in each classroom who are K-Pop fans. Although it only reached the mania however due to the ardent fans now K-Pop music has started to spread out to the general public.

CNN Chile reporter Stavros Mosjos that came to report for JYJ’s Chile concert shared, “Now K-Pop that was limited to certain fan base has now reached the public. Now is the perfect time for K-Pop to spread out to the general public.”

Concert promoters expect the current K-Pop of 20,000 to 30,000 market audiences to grow more than twice the size within this year. JYJ’s concert promoter Noix company CEO Gonzalo Garcia stated, “Korean artists popularity will more than double within one year. K-Pop is surely attracting quite a lot of attention.”

Some say that this type of popularity can be a temporary K-Pop boom however if you look further back Chie’s hallyu wave began much earlier. Majority of JYJ’s fan that visited JYJ’s concert March 9 has been a fan of JYJ since 5-6 years ago. This is even before the K-Pop boom started.

Cristina Jorquera, 25 shared that her Korean name is Han Boa said she became interested in Korean artists through Japanese animation. She held an interview after the concert with OSEN stating, “I liked Japanese animation which had me take interest in Japan’s pop culture which in turn made me a fan of BoA and TVXQ who were active in Japan at that time. I came to know that they were all Korean artists which led me to take interest in Korea.” Not only that she replied that majority of JYJ’s fans have been waiting for their performance for over 5 years, which tells us this is not a temporary boom.

Especially the K-Pop artists are already influencing the Chile’s youth values so it’s expected that K-Pop will become a larger influence. The stories of K-Pop artists making a name for themselves on their own seem to have contributed to being more favorable towards Korean artists. Another fan Nicole Escobar, 27 stated, “The social polarization in South America is very severe which limits the youth of dreaming of becoming successful however seeing the Korean artists that endure the difficult trainee period to become successful singers allow us to have hope ‘I can do it.’ Many fans like their stories of overcoming hardship.”

The fans have gathered actively together with other Korean artists fans to share and exchange information. Nicole Escobar, “International fan clubs are community of destiny. Although my friend is a fan of After School since there is no one in the fan club who can fluently speak Korean or English. Therefore they will request to a Super Junior fan who can speak English to translate some information. So there are these fan clubs that gather together to socialize by sharing information. If the numbers of fans are small then the Korean artists will not come to visit us, therefore it’s fairly important for all the fans to unite.”

Nevertheless there are still many things that are lacking. Fans pointed out that for K-Pop’s popularity to grow further within Chile the sharing of information needs to be more active. Cristina Jorquera expressed,“It’s is really difficult to find the information of my favorite artist in my language. More than the music that is made worldwide composers and new trend, we need the access to the information. We can even barely find one official homepage in Spanish.”

There is another assignment to solve. The reporters in Chile shared, “If album license is issued properly and CD is distributed, more fans who will purchase for $25-30 rather than purchasing it for $300-$400 from online.”

Most of all, the willingness of K-Pop stars towards the fans in South America will be the deciding factor to K-Pop sensation’s future. And more artists including Super Junior and B2ST have been reported to be preparing for concerts in South America. Big Bang, Super Junior, SHINee, 2NE1 are also popular in Chile, according to the reporters in Chile. As the interests towards K-Pop increase, there will be a higher demand for local events and concerts.

What music will you listen to? (hey) What music will you listen to? (hey) What music will you listen to? (hey) What music will you listen to? (come on)*2 (verse) What a shame, same kind of music Gonna breakaway, I’m no cliché Don’t tell me how to do it my way Every day the world’s […]

She said I couldn’t be committed She said I’m too much of a player Come on Uncommitted Uncommitted Uncommitted Ey, ey It was all a dream Reality was far from the safe picture she painted for me She told me I was the one and I believed until the dream dissipated so suddenly I don’t […]